Monday, December 15, 2014

When you have read my previous post on this site, you know I just love reading Egholm. Yesterday I finished the second novel with Peter Boutrup in the leading role - and it was one of the best crime novels I've ever read!

Egholms's writing keeps you reading on until the end, wanting to know how everything ties together. And then you must consider that I read in translation, so probably the Danish version is even better.

In this volume, Peter has coped with the loss of Felix (who has returned to her family in Spain). His boss Manfred and himself are now working in a convent named St. Mary's. One evening, Peter sees how a man approaches a young nun.

Not much later, he is approached by Sister Beatrice, to look into the disapperance of Sister Melissa. While Peter conducts his investigation, albeit unwillingly, the body of Melissa is found in the moat of the convent. She has been garotted...

In the meantime, diver Kir has found a box filled with human bones somewhere in a deep in the Kattegat. The bones are brought to the forensic unit to be inspected - and they turn out to be more than 60 years old. Both Mark Bille Hansen and Peter have a feeling these two finds are connected however, and so they prove to be.

More people get murdered, others disappear. It is Peter who finally can tie the loose ends and finds out the identity of the killer. But before he does, lots of things happen.

This book is full of aciton and also shows a lot of psychological insight. It also deals with things we all can come into contact with.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

After having watched the tv-series 'Dicte' - based on the novels of the above mentioned author - I was curious to find out more about her and her writing.

Unfortunately I don't speak Danish (I can understand some of it, though, having taken a two-year course of Swedish when I was about 24) so I definitely should not try to read those books in that language.

A pity, because there is not yet an English translation of the Dicte books. Here (Bene)Dicte is introduced, a women of around 40 who is a journalist in the town of Aarhus. She's newly divorced and has a daughter, Rose. But years ago she also gave birth to a son, whom she had to give up for adoption because her parents were Jehova's Witnesses.

Now Elsebeth Egholm has begun a series of novels featuring Dicte's son Peter. There are already two books, and better still, they have English versions! Peter Boutrup is an ex-convict. If you have seen (or read) the Dicte series, you know he only confessed to shooting down an intruder to protect his then girlfriend My. You also learn he has spent his early childhood in a care home with a cruel guardian. Yet he is a man who values honesty and will not use violence when not necessary.

After having been released from prison - and shortly met his mother and sister - Peter wants to start a new life. He buys a house on a cliff and works as a carpenter. When he is walking his dog on New Year's Day, he finds a body down the foot of the cliff. And - he knows the victim. He also meets his new neighbor, Felix Gomez. Felix is the sole survivor of a helicopter accident in which her husband and little daughter were killed.

You can already figure out that Peter and Felix will be the center of the investigation. The police officers - Mark Bille being the local police chief - have many clues, but it's Peter who manages to link everything together.

This was an excellent read and I'm gonna start on the second book pretty soon.